Last Agni Kai
by Raggazzed12
Summary: Written for the Pro-Bender Circuit Round 7. It is the truly last Agni Kai for Zuko and Azula. *CHARACTER DEATH*


**A/N: Here we go, our last official round for the Probender Circuit! Round 7, here I come! I'm rather excited for this one because this time, I really will get to play with Zuko! Yay!**

 **Task: One person defeats the other, focusing on the person who won.**

 **Prompts: (emotion) Anger, (genre) Suspense, (character) Iroh**

 **Word Count: (Not counting author's notes) 1, 822**

 **Alright, here we go! To clarify for those who have not read The Search: at the end of it, Azula goes mad and runs away. She hasn't returned until this story, in my take of it, so basically, she's still mad. Just clarifying this for everyone who hasn't read it before, because I know some haven't. On a side note: this is a Zuko and Azula fic… so it could be ugly. But I'm excited for it still!**

Slowly, the fire appeared in his palm, and he focuses his attention back to her. She seems to think he is weak, at least that is what he can get from her reaction as she sees him. Her mouth forms into a wicked smile, her eyes lighting up a brilliant red in dark courtyard. Shivers run up his spine as he stands there, but he holds his ground, not wanting her to sense fear. It is, after all, only his second time fighting her in a real battle, and this time, he doesn't have another person with him. They are all alone in the gloomy courtyard, the creatures in the night screeching warnings from the trees.

She holds blue fire in her palm, and while he knows very well how to resist it, he's still slightly frightened of the substance. Averting his eyes for a moment, he takes a step backwards to get slightly more ground, the bricks creaking beneath his feet. Looking back up, he sees her crazy eyes and grin staring straight into his eyes.

"Scared yet, Zuzu?" She laughs manically. Sure, she's insane, so she has a right to act crazy like that, but still, it's slightly eerie.

He replies by throwing the fire in his palm at her. She ducks low and instead directed the lightning towards him, but he jumped and missed it. The tension rises. How had they agreed to do this? He begins to wonder why he'd bothered to bring her back to the palace anyways. After disappearing into the blue, it seems implausible that she would return. Somehow, he'd ended up talking to her in her bedroom that night.

 _"You are getting used to the job, I presume, Zuzu?" She asked calmly as he came in._

 _"What does it matter to you, Azula? You don't care if I succeed or fall." His reply came out cold and curt._

 _"Well, maybe I do a bit about the falling part…" Her mad eyes followed him around the room._

"Wake up already, Zuzu, you'll get crushed!" His sister laughs, as he breaks out of his thoughts and memory and realizes she's shooting fire at him.

Flipping to avoid another one, he's faced with another problem. She's moving in a circle around him, walking backwards slightly, and still staring at him. He will be forced into a corner if she continues like this. Throwing back his left leg, he flips around, sending fire her way as fast as he can. Once more, she's ducking it, not getting hit at all. But then again, she had agreed to this.

 _"Is it always in the best interest of the people that you act in, Zuzu, or just in yours?"_

 _"It is in theirs."_

 _"Then why am I here?"_

He's ducking again, avoiding the fire, now redirecting it. Her body has made it to the far end of the courtyard, as he moved farther away from her, avoiding the trap she obviously means to set for him, or did. From that end, she's got a bit more power, and sends a riptide of lighting, yet he's jumping it, moving away, avoiding it. Now he's sending a rain of fire, creating a large ring around her. No one's hurt yet, but surely this would not end without at least one wound. He isn't sure, but as he thinks this more shivers go up his spine. For a 20 year old, he can sure be scared at times. When it comes to her, though, he has a reason.

 _"Because for once, I have acted in my best interest," He replied, looking her dead in the eyes as he moved closer to the side of her bed. She was sitting on the edge of it, dangling her feet off the edge._

 _"For once? You mean you have never made a decision for yourself until now? I feel honored." She grinned._

 _"I've made them before. You just happen to be my most dangerous one. Do you know what it took to find you in those forsaken woods, Azula?" Zuko grimaced, thinking of all the trouble he'd gone through to try and find her._

 _"I'm not impossible to find. I have plenty of trails." She purred, her eyes swirling._

 _"Murders, you mean." He shook his head._

 _"Oh come along, tell me what you really brought me here for."_

 _"Not yet." He couldn't tell her what it was. Zuko wasn't sure she'd agree to it. It was a bargain in a way._

"Are you slowing down? Or tired? I can't tell, Zuko!" She cries from the other end, still smiling. He's got to find out how to defeat her and quick.

"No! You will not win this, Azula!" He shouts back, not entirely confident, but knowing where he wants to go with this. If he can just get her farther back near the buildings…

"Take that!" She sends a ring of lightning at him, he redirects it, but she jumps to miss it. She's fortunate she could do that, he's pretty sure she'll tire out eventually.

Will she? That's the real question here. He remembers what his uncle has said. Though she was born prodigy, the insanity was affecting her quite a bit. If only Aang had been able to take away her bending too. Sometimes he wishes that. But he knows it will not make a difference. As wave after wave of blue fire comes at him, he's thinking about all the times he's dreamed of the last time they fought.

 _"Zuzu, I want to help you, I will help you." She sounded too sure._

 _"NO." He shouted suddenly, but firmly._

 _"What is it?"_

 _"I will not be told what to do by you."_

 _"I'm your sister. Of course you will." Azula stared him straight in the eyes. Zuko didn't flinch nor did he look away._

 _"No, I won't, Azula."_

 _She stood up, staring at him, brushing off her robes. She was wearing the clothing he'd gotten for her, it was newer than the rags she'd been in when she'd arrived. That had been interesting. The guards had come in shouting. It had been too early in the morning for him to deal with something like this, but somehow he'd done it, and Azula had come in screaming and shouting and kicking. The guards had hardly been able to hold onto her, and when he had ordered them out, he slammed the door and looked at the heap on the floor that was his sister._

 _Looking at her now, he noticed how much she had thinned out. Maybe it had been living in the wilderness, maybe just nature, he wasn't sure, but she was not healthy, more…sickly. Her face was shallow, her eyes dark._

 _"Then I demand to see how well you truly would fight for your people."_

 _"I'll call in someone tomorrow for that, though I see no point in a completely unneeded Agni Kai, sister." He shook his head slowly._

 _"Oh, there's no need for that. I am angered, you see, by your impudent actions upon the government last winter. Giving food out for everyone who couldn't afford their own is a foolish act, the government could have fallen." She snapped._

 _"That was not a mistake, Azula. I was smart enough to help those who can't help themselves."_

 _"I would have let them hunt or starve on their own. They are rats, compared to us, Zuzu. You should think twice before helping the poor next time." Her eyes were directed at a fingernail she was picking at, but he felt as if she were staring at him._

A sudden burn up his leg causes him to stare at her. She's burned his leg. He hasn't moved fast enough. She's laughing again, which for some reason seems to be the only thing that has happened since the fight began. The anger surges up in him, the pain is causing it, and he throws a very large flame at her, jumping to avoid one of her blue surges. The pain is disappearing now, only because his mind is distracted. He doesn't like this set up, he's not sorry if he hurts her.

She stops laughing. She's obviously alarmed, and he likes it. He explodes with the fire inside, shooting it all at her, she deserves it. She didn't move back in time. It has all it hit her. The rage has overtaken him. Even if she's lying on the ground, it doesn't matter. What matters is that he's angry, he doesn't want to listen to her lies anymore. Then he sees everything he's done to her, and he's regretting it all.

He runs over to her, and she's burned all over. It was a mistake. It was all a mistake. He's ashamed, scared, guilty. She's moaning. She's half dead, and getting closer to being fully dead. And it's all his fault.

 _"What are you asking me for?" He stood up now, staring at her still._

 _"I'm asking for a fight between the both of us. An Agni Kai. And not just any certain one. To the death."_

 _"I'm not fighting you to the death."_

He blinks the tears out of his eyes as he remembers this promise. She's in his arms now, looking at him, for some reason no longer insane, instead, she seems to have returned to normal in the last few moments of her life.

"You're… I'm sorry." She gasps, staring up at him, then not breathing in again. He is crying hard now.

He's gotten rid of his sister. Not on purpose. And he's won their death match. Maybe it's for the best. But he doesn't think so. He thinks it's his entire fault, he was stupid to let her take control of him and agree to the battle.

 _"Oh, yes you are, brother." Azula stared at him._

 _"I…"_

 _"Agree to it." Blue flames appeared in her hand. "Or else."_

 _"Alright… I will." He struggled to say the words, but did eventually._

 _"Good. See you tonight. No one can watch." Azula left the room, probably in pursuit of something better to do with her time until then._

The world is growing increasingly darker as he sits there, crying. He's not in the mood for anything anymore, he's just killed off his own sister. Soon he falls asleep, her body still in his arms.

The light is blinding when he opens his eyes, but he finds that someone is looking down at him with sorrow in his face, his uncle, Iroh. He's been crying too. She's not in his arms anymore, she's obviously somewhere else. They probably took her away hours ago when they found him in the courtyard.

"Come along, nephew. You need to talk with me." He fears that Iroh is going to ridicule him, but after what he's done, he needs to face the consequences. This could be the turning point in his reign where he reconsiders everything he's ever done.

 **A/N: OH MY GOD… I JUST KILLED AZULA…WELL THAT WAS UNEXPECTED… I'm sorry if I just did that to everyone. Eh. I hope you enjoyed this story, in the … sad way it's written. Thank you for reading and please, review, review, review!**


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